Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney based on The Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault. The 16th Disney animated feature film, it was released to theaters on January 29, 1959, by Buena Vista Distribution. This was the last Disney adaptation of a fairy tale for some years because of its initial mixed critical reception and underperformance at the box office; the studio did not return to the genre until 30 years later, after Walt Disney died in 1966, with the release of The Little Mermaid (1989). It features the voices of Mary Costa, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy, Barbara Jo Allen, Bill Shirley, Taylor Holmes, and Bill Thompson. The film was directed by Les Clark, Eric Larson, and Wolfgang Reitherman, under the supervision of Clyde Geronimi, with additional story work by Joe Rinaldi, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright, and Milt Banta. The film's musical score and songs, featuring the work of the Graunke Symphony Orchestra under the direction of George Bruns, are arrangements or adaptations of numbers from the 1890 Sleeping Beauty ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. However, unlike the previous feature films, this was the first Disney feature film that did not have the same background animation material, but instead with new background animation material. Sleeping Beauty was the first animated film to be photographed in the Super Technirama 70 widescreen process, as well as the second full-length animated feature film to be filmed in anamorphic widescreen, following Disney's own Lady and the Tramp four years earlier. The film was presented in Super Technirama 70 and 6-channel stereophonic sound in first-run engagements. In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".4 Plot After many childless years, King Stefan and Queen Leah welcome a daughter, the Princess Aurora. A holiday is proclaimed to pay homage to the princess. At her christening, Aurora is betrothed to Prince Phillip, the son of King Stefan's closest friend King Hubert, to unite their kingdoms. Among the guests are the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Flora and Fauna bless Aurora with beauty and song, respectively, but Merryweather's gift is interrupted by the evil fairy Maleficent, who is angry and insulted she was uninvited. As retaliation, Maleficent curses the princess, proclaiming Aurora will grow in grace and beauty, but before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. The King and Queen beg the fairies to undo the curse, but they are not powerful enough; Merryweather uses her magic to weaken the curse; instead of dying, Aurora will fall into a deep slumber, only broken by true love's kiss. King Stefan orders all spinning wheels throughout the kingdom be burned. At the fairies' urging, the King and Queen reluctantly allow Aurora to live with the fairies, hidden in the forest. Aurora, renamed Briar Rose, grows into a beautiful young woman. On her sixteenth birthday, the fairies ask her to gather berries so they can prepare a surprise party. Aurora befriends the animals of the forest and sings them a song, "Once Upon a Dream". Phillip, now a handsome young man, follows Aurora's voice and is instantly struck by her beauty and grace. She is initially startled, as she is not allowed to talk to strangers, but she and Phillip fall in love. She invites him to meet her godmothers at the cottage that evening. Meanwhile, Flora and Merryweather argue over the color of Aurora's gown, their magic attracting the attention of Maleficent's raven who learns Aurora's location. Returning home, Aurora is thrilled to tell her guardians that she has fallen in love. The fairies finally tell Aurora that she is a princess, already betrothed to a prince, and she must never see the man again. Heartbroken, Aurora cries in her room. Phillip tells his father he wishes to marry a peasant girl, despite his betrothal to a princess and he is left devastated. The fairies take Aurora to the castle to await her birthday celebrations and be reunited with her parents. Maleficent appears and lures Aurora into a dark tower and tricks her into touching the spindle of a cursed spinning wheel. Aurora pricks her finger, fulfilling the curse only moments before the sun sets. The three fairies place the sleeping Aurora on a bed in the highest tower and cast a powerful spell on everyone in the kingdom, causing them to sleep until the spell on their princess is broken. After overhearing a sleepy conversation between the two kings, they realize that Phillip is the man Aurora loves. They rush to find him, but Maleficent has abducted him. She shows Phillip the sleeping Princess Aurora, and says she will lock him away until he is an old man on the verge of death. Only then will she release him to meet his love, who will not have aged a single day. The fairies rescue Phillip, arming him with the magical Sword of Truth and Shield of Virtue. An enraged Maleficent surrounds the castle with thorns but fails to stop Phillip. She confronts him, transforming into a gigantic dragon. They battle, and Phillip throws the sword, blessed by the fairies, directly into Maleficent's heart, killing her. Phillip awakens Aurora with a kiss, breaking the spell and waking the kingdom. The royal couple descends to the ballroom, where Aurora is reunited with her parents. Flora and Merryweather resume their dispute over Aurora's gown while the happy couple dance, living happily ever after. Category:Animated movies